The Netherlands is the world's second largest avocado importer

In 2016, the Netherlands imported avocados for the record amount of 433 million euros. This makes the Netherlands, after the USA, the second largest importer of avocados in the world. However, four out of five imported avocados are not for domestic consumption, but get sent to other countries. This was reported by the CBS, the Central Bureau of Statistics, on the basis of additional analysis of recently published figures.

Over the last eight years, the import value of avocados has quadrupled. This growth has not been seen in any other important type of fruit. The avocado is now second only to grapes. Banana imports have also grown robustly, ending up in third place, followed by oranges and melons. Apple imports have, however, fallen sharply over the same period.

Avocados mostly for global exportA large percentage of the avocados (79 percent) are not destined for the Dutch market, but for other countries. For the large part, these are European countries. The balance is consumed by people in the Netherlands. In 2016, there were approximately 39 million kilograms of avocados available for local consumption. In 2008 that amount was only 10 million kilogram.

Largest producer, Mexico, focused on the USMexico is, by far, the largest producer of avocados in the world. The Netherlands, however, gets most of its produce from Peru, Chile and South Africa. Half of the Dutch imports come from Peru and Chile. Mexico provides mainly to the neighbouring USA, and is, itself, the largest global consumer of avocados.

The USA is the world's largest avocado importerIn 2016, America imported three times as many avocados as the Netherlands. After the Netherlands, comes France, the UK, Japan and Germany. The avocados imported to Germany come largely from the Netherlands. The Netherlands also exports many avocados to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.